Ichigo x Ishida
by Skitter160
Summary: It started with an 'accident' and ended as a peaceful date that was always meant to happen. AU
**Melinda's list notes:**

Chapter pairing: Ichigo x Ishida

Fandom: Bleach

Designation: Alternate Universe

Ishida had just finished his shift at the bookstore and headed towards his next destination. He was moving at what would be considered a leisurely pace, since he couldn't yet move far from in front of the entry way he had exited. His breath was little more than white puffs filling the air along with the large snow flakes falling around him piling on the walk. The large flakes were adding to the inch or so that was already on the ground. He pulled his scarf around him tighter, weather like this was part of why he hated wearing glasses. It often required him to stand there for several seconds to long minutes waiting for them to defog enough for him to see. As it was he turned his body in the right direction and waited. He was of course certain that he could walk the path to the craft store blind from sense memory alone, but he knew that wouldn't account for anyone on the sidewalk who was milling about.

Which must have been the case for whoever had just plowed him over into the snow from behind. Obviously they hadn't thought about anyone being outside the door or passing by. But Ishida wasn't going to gripe too much as his glasses were still on his face, if not a little lower, and not in the snow.

"I'm so sorry, I didn't notice you standing there." The voice was sincerely apologetic and friendly and if Ishida was correct belonged to the last customer he had helped not even ten minutes ago. The black haired male knew he was correct when he spotted the book he'd recommended in their hand as the other hand helped him up. "Are you alright Ishida?" They were asking as he finally got back on his feet.

"I'm fine." He answered pushing his glasses back into place after wiping his hands on his dry coat. "..." He couldn't stop from giving the other a look noticing the use of his name, he hadn't remembered sharing it.

"Your name badge." The customer smiled and pointed to the badge that still hung around his neck and had been knocked free from the confines of his coat from the force of the fall. "I'm Ichigo by the way." The smile was boyish and charming even as it was over taken by a grimace. Ichigo couldn't help feeling guilty seeing the damage he'd done to the other male. "Let me treat you to something warm, I'm sure you'll get cold with those wet knees. Coffee sound good?"

The ravenette scowled down at his knees, most of the snow had already fallen off but his knees were indeed chilled in the thin jeans he'd been wearing. He hadn't been planning to be out that long today after his shift. Though after some thought he pulled off his name badge and shoved it in his pocket. "Sure, if you want." He answered nonchalant, it wasn't like it was against company policy to get coffee with a customer. And even if the customer was absolutely adorable it wasn't like it was a date.

The red head beamed at him and pointed to the small cafe across the street. Ishida nodded consent, he'd never bothered going in the cafe despite having heard their coffee was excellent. "Don't be so nervous." Ichigo chided his companion pushing him slightly from behind as he just looked at the cafe in front of them. "I just left your job to go to mine." He joked with a good humored smile having revealed more about himself than Ishida had as of yet.

Ishida just raised an eyebrow saying nothing as he let himself be led by the red head. It wasn't as if he hadn't seen him often, honestly he was often seeing the red head in the store. More often than not when he ended up helping him they ended up having in depth discussions about the books, but they never really just talked. They had never even traded names. Frequently they weren't even facing each other but were on opposite sides of the shelves with Ishida stocking one side and Ichigo shopping the other talking aloud while the ravenette would put his two cents in, it was oddly comfortable.

Today was the first time they had bumped into each other outside of the bookstore. All of their encounters thus far, though there couldn't have been more than a handful, were over books. And somehow it surprised the shorter male to realize that Ichigo worked just across the street. However it definitely explained why the red head frequented the shop so much, besides the obvious need for assigned papers material.

"Back already?" The shop owner smiled at her employee as he entered the cafe, then spotted Ishida behind the tall red head. Her grin couldn't have been anything less than a jesting leer in Ishida's book. She looked them both up and down quickly before speaking again. "You brought quite the cutie back with you," She winked at them as they approached the counter her eyes twinkling with mirth. She had been wondering who had caught her employee's eye lately with the way he'd been behaving. "Care to introduce me?" She winked again smirking at the red quickly coloring her employee.

"Oh shut it!" Ichigo snapped ears red and looking quite embarrassed. Why couldn't his boss just leave things alone. "It's not like that." He protested hands on the counter glaring her down daring her to go on. She just smirked and motioned to the menu quietly.

Ishida blushed still standing behind Ichigo as he realized what was meant by that. While he wasn't really going to complain because he was indeed very gay, he hadn't thought Ichigo was. Admittedly though he honestly wouldn't mind if that were the case and that's where things led. However that's not really how things seemed to go for him and thus he was still a virgin at twenty-two. It wasn't that just anyone would do though but Ichigo, as he'd already decided not twenty minutes ago when he'd agreed to this, wasn't just anyone.

"Sorry about her." Ichigo blushed looking at the expression on Ishida's face over his shoulder. He wasn't sure what he saw there but it wasn't disgust at least. "Go grab a seat I'll get our order." He smiled encouragingly as Ishida looked around and headed towards the window seat farthermost from the counter and closest to the little fire place the cafe had. It wasn't a very big fireplace or a very big fire in it but it set the mood in ways most cafes lacked, if you were to ask the red head.

Ishida took the seat facing away from the counter and Ichigo smiled with the weather being what it was there weren't many customers. And as it was right now they were the only ones in the shop. Since Ichigo was taking a moment he pulled out his book and resisted the urge to study the other in favor of reading. It wasn't until a few paragraphs in that he realized he never actually told the other want he wanted. Though he shrugged it off as long as it wasn't too sweet he wasn't going to complain.

After a few words to his boss and their orders steaming in his hands Ichigo made his way over to the table not surprised to find Ishida reading as he waited. "I hope you like lattes." He smiled at the nod he was given as he set the steaming latte in front of the ravenette before taking his own seat as he continued. "Sorry about her," He found himself apologizing again. "Ever since Rangiku found out I'm so inclined she's been getting weird ideas." He tried really hard to suppress his blush as he finished that sentence. While she had left the counter for a moment he could still see the blonde busying herself to give them a little space for which he was appreciative but he knew it wouldn't last forever.

Ishida nodded blowing on the latte before sipping it having lowered his scarf enough to see his face. "Do you bring many men here?" He hadn't meant to sound accusing but he was curious. And after all this wasn't a date, it wasn't anything really and Ichigo didn't really owe him answers. The draft against his knees as the cafe door opened for another customer was enough to remind him of this.

"God no." Ichigo scowled to himself this wasn't going so well. He'd been slightly crushing on the dark haired, shorter male for awhile. In honesty, he'd probably been crushing on him right after he had heard the ravenette with another customer. He couldn't remember the conversation very well now but he'd overhead them discussing something and the intelligence of the shorter male had intrigued him. Their own in depth conversations and what he learned about the other had only snowballed his feelings. "I..." Ichigo blushed as he looked up at Ishida with a boyish grin, if it was going south there wasn't really any reason to hold back on his flirting right? "Well she's just noticed I've had my eye on someone." He was totally failing and internally he groaned at how pathetic it was. But Ishida's reaction assured him almost got his message across.

Ishida blushed under the intensity of Ichigo's staring and looked away. He wasn't sure he was reading the hint right anyway so he let it go looking down at his latte he sipped it again. "I'm sure whoever it is, is quite lucky." He just barely kept the lilting from his voice. He couldn't hide his smile Ichigo's reaction told him everything he needed to know as he smiled back with more boyish charm. It was cuter than it should have been on that tough looking face. Ishida allowed his eyes to wander though because pacing was something he was good at and the couple outside had caught his attention. It was a friend of his Chad, he was tall and large and always stood out no matter what crowd he was in. He was often thought of as tough and not be messed with kinda guy, but he was always gentle and soft spoken. His wife was the exact opposite being as feisty as she was beautiful, Karin was also slim and petite. She always looked fragile and young walking next to her husband despite both of them being a cool twenty-seven. And it made Ishida wonder how he and Ichigo would look to the outside even though he knew they honestly had a lot in common inside. He looked every part the book worm and Ichigo every part the delinquent Ishida knew he wasn't. He smiled into his latte again surprisingly comfortable with the silence even as he broke it. "I noticed you bought the book I recommended."

Ichigo who had followed the other's gaze drew his eyes away from the seemingly mismatched couple to glance at his bespectacled companion. He took the topic for what it was and shrugged honestly. "Well it was a tough decision but I think this will work better for my class. You have some interesting insights." The red head smirked at how easy it was to add color to the pale face across from him. "What major are you?" He asked finally sipping his own latte now that it was cooler.

Ishida blinked owlishly for a moment then smiled ruefully. "Ah actually I'm not in college." He didn't really have need for a higher education or a job for that matter. He was set for life with the investments he'd made with his inheritance, not that it stopped him from working. He enjoyed the work but schooling had never been his thing.

"Oh?" Ichigo frowned a little as a thought dawned on him. He had always thought that they were close to the same age but with Ishida's personality it just didn't seem possible for him not to be studying something. "You're not like in high school are you?" He felt his face burning after the words left his mouth.

Ishida instead of getting angry, found himself amused enough to chuckle lowly. It had been a long time since he had been asked that. The last time had been when he inherited his Father's conglomerate 'Quincy Corp' at nineteen. It had only been three years ago and since then he'd paved out a quiet life while still running the company via a proxy. The limelight had never suited him and even now he had to avoid certain places since his company truly had their hands in everything. "No," He gave the red head an amused smile and sipped more of his latte finding it was already half gone. "I'm twenty-three this year honestly." He quirked an eyebrow instead of inquiring about his company, it wasn't polite to ask outright.

Ichigo didn't even try to hide the relief on his face or the goofy grin he was giving the other. "I'll be twenty-five soon." His lopsided grin didn't go away as they found themselves talking about how much the times had changed since they had grown up. He noticed when his coworker came in but barely paid it any mind as he continued discussing animatedly unaware he was being studied.

By the time another silence had stretched between Ichigo and his companion Renji had arrived for his shift, spent the customary fifteen minutes seeing off his girlfriend Rukia, and replaced their lattes. Renji was frankly surprised Ichigo was still there. He would have started gossiping about it with Rangiku, their boss but the blonde was too busy flirting with her husband. Sometimes when he was feeling ungracious he wondered if the only reason Rangiku ran a coffee shop was to get Hitsugaya's attention. Of course he knew it wasn't true after all they were the most lovey-dovey couple he knew besides himself and Rukia. As the silence stretched in the air, he looked over at the only noise that had been keeping him slightly entertained, they were starting at each other in silence. Renji was delighted when another customer walked in. With the new distraction he let his attention wander back away from what he was sure was a newly forming couple by the window.

With a glance out the window Ichigo sighed the snow was still piling up as the large flakes continued to fall. He didn't want this to end though, so instead of thinking about the long trek home he smiled at Ishida. He sipped his second latte as he filled the silence that had been growing comfortably. "So if you were to choose a major to pursue what would it be?" He couldn't help being overly curious.

The ravenette paused a moment and thought about it seriously. It wasn't that he didn't have the time or funds for college he just didn't have the desire, not when he already had the quiet life he wanted. "I think art," He finally answered looking out the window again watching the snow fall and blow around on the wind, glancing at the red head from the corner of his eye. He was what Ishida would call a picture worth painting in that moment. "I'm something of a business man..." He trailed off with a shrug. "What is your major?" He asked as he was curious based on the books they discussed he had assumed a literature major. But having actually talked to the red head in depth about other subjects he thought maybe he was wrong entirely.

"Ah I'm an architecture major. Though I have a minor in history, I'm taking a lot of literature classes on the time periods that interest me." The red head admitted with a small blush he'd never really told anyone that he was genuinely interested in the materials they were learning in class and how it tied in with the art of building. Of course it was all connected but not many people looked at it like that. The longer they talked the more it pleased him the way the ravenette connected things. They thought quite alike for being so different.

Ishida smiled pleasantly surprised by Ichigo's input on the different subjects that they often talked about it made sense. He was curious about what had driven the other to those choices and listened intently to the answer as he finished his second latte though he declined a third and the silence reigned once more. It wasn't uncomfortable though but poignant with the only sound the soft chatter of other customers and the falling snow. The cafe was starting to get busier.

After finishing his own latte in the silence the red head looked outside again and sighed once more it was now or never. "It's getting kinda late, the snow is piling up, and I've got class tomorrow," Ichigo looked into Ishida's blue eyes and frowned. "I don't actually want to leave though and it's your fault so," He knew his face was probably on fire but he trudged on anyway. "Do you think we could do this again?"

Ishida blushed and nodded mutely and pulled out his cellphone and handed it to the red head and accepted Ichigo's in exchange. They set up a date for Friday and when they parted outside the cafe Ishida felt his heart beating in nervous excitement against his rib cage. By the time he'd gotten home Ichigo had already texted him and he felt like he might have just discovered cloud nine.

Ishida smiled down at his phone replying jauntily as he exited the craft store and headed towards the cafe. It had been three months now that he and Ichigo had been going steady. Often when they didn't have much time they would meet at the cafe for lattes and crowd watch like they had for that first not so awkward hour of their first date that first Friday.

Rangiku would always tease them when they walked in but never for long because they always seemed to arrive just before her husband. Though she'd make sure Renji put hearts in their foam and delivered them with love, set just within reach of their hands linked on the table. She could see them doing this for years to come and it always brought a smile to her face to see Ichigo so relaxed and calm. Not that she wasn't happy for Renji but more often than not he and his girlfriend needed to get a room. What Ichigo had was sweet and not so fleeting.

Touch of editing 3/12/16


End file.
